Meeting Them

She grabs the last book from her cart, placing it back to its rightful shelf. She was finally done for the night after working all day, she knew there were better jobs that can be easier and can be paid higher, but she just can't let go of this one. This "she" is Delilah Miller. A high school graduate, moved to start a new life. But things weren't how she planned, of course. Delilah checked every single aisle and circled around the library one last time before locking up, hiding the key to its secret place; under the owner's favorite plant.

It was just another regular night for everyone, most of them asleep in the comfort of their own home. Delilah was on her way to the doughnut shop to get a cup of coffee at ten o'clock. She was tired due to working all day, and needed a pick-me-up, thinking of getting a well deserved jelly doughnut as well if there was any more since it was late.

She comes in to see a man wearing a cap and jacket, beside him was a teenager. Delilah assumed this was the man's son, since they were next to each other. She sat down beside the boy, turned her head to get a quick look of the two. They didn't seem familiar to her, she wondered where they lived around here or if they even lived here.

"Hey Delilah, good to see you, do you want the usual coffee?" The sweet lady behind the counter smiles at her, making her thoughts go away. She smiles back and nods her head, keeping her politeness.

She felt an awkward silence, causing her anxiety to show. She placed her hands on the table and looked around, the menu the same as it was since she first came here, the orders on pieces of paper, pinned to a wire. As her eyes shifted to the two men beside her, she saw the cup the boy was holding. It was coffee, she could tell that it was black from her perspective.

The lady handed Delilah her coffee, always smiling as she served so Delilah always smiles back to thank her. She blows on her coffee, holding it with both hands. A couple of sips in, the older man stood up, grabbing his newspaper and started to leave without the boy. Delilah immediately got that the old man was a hundred percent not his father.

After finishing the cup of coffee, Delilah pays like usual and asks for a jelly doughnut to go. She wanted to sit at her apartment instead as she read the book, "Little Women" she hasn't finished back at home. She got her change and her doughnut and left the shop after thanking the lady.

As Delilah walked almost a block away already, she realized that she had left her handkerchief beside the boy. She must've left it after she used it, she loved the handkerchief and it held a memory since it was said to have belonged to her mother.

She quickly walked back over to the shop, almost running. She hoped that it was still in there, overthinking if the boy took it with him but thought of why he would. Thoughts flew into her mind, the more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded. She arrives in front of the shop, trying to breathe but everything seems to not matter as she sees the boy surrounded by men in black. Delilah stares from outside in confusion, squinting to see better.

She started looking for anyone who could help, but there was no one in sight, not a car driving by. An idea of hers was to rush in there to help, but with what weapon and with what skill? Her thoughts stop as she hears multiple gunshots coming from inside. As she looked closer, she noticed something abnormal. The boy- he was teleporting around, on behind to the side of the men and even on top of them. Delilah was stunned, scared but her feet felt so heavy. She couldn't move, she struggles to let out any noise from her mouth as well.

Delilah turns around again, checking her surroundings. She tries to get her breathing back to normal, but deep exhales continue and she felt like she was gonna faint any minute. The boy appears out of nowhere and this caught her off guard. She yelled as their eyes met, she felt scared and wanted to run or slap him, anything. But all she could do was stare at those eyes, but the boy snapped his finger to grab Delilah’s attention.

“Who are you?” The boy asked. He had the venust green eyes, the brightest you’ve ever seen. He had brown hair that looked so soft, she almost wanted to touch it. Her eyes shift over to his arm, blood going through his white sleeve.

“Um- The girl?” She said, stopping her from staring at the man’s glorious hair. "From the caf- shop? Donuts?” She asks with a nervous smile, struggling to choose her words. The boy backs up a bit. “Excuse me, if you can-” Delilah smiles, grabbing all the confidence she could. “But what the fuck was that? Are you some kind of murderer? Talk!” She shouts,her voice shaking. She expected the guy to show some kind of shock but he was just confused.

He sighed as he looked around, having suspicions that the girl was a part of something. But her face, it was oddly familiar to him. He saw the girl somewhere, a place he fears. A place he regrets going to, the apocalypse, she was there. He knew he had to take her back with him, he needed to find out things about her.

As the boy grabs Delilah’s waist, she’s taken aback. “He-Hey!” She shouts, her face flushed. He doesn’t talk and jumps them back to his bedroom, grunting as they arrive. The bedroom was neat, too neat. Like no one has been there for years, but it was obvious that someone kept it clean over the years.

“What the fuck?” She looks around, checking if she was still whole, questioning to herself what just happened. She was in a place she had no idea where so she looks at the boy who was standing near the door, only seeing his back, she was planning to push him down and run for the door.

“Don’t even think about escaping.” He whispered firmly and turned around to sit at the bed, she knew the boy wasn’t normal. She felt like she had no choice but to stay in her position. She turned around to look for another way out. She walked slowly to the window to see stairs that go down and up, it was the emergency stairs.

She looks behind her to see what the boy was doing. He took off the blazer he was wearing, it looked like some sort of uniform. He then removed his white buttoned down short sleeved polo. Delilah felt a weird feeling in her stomach as soon as she saw the blood, she immediately looked back at the window, lifting her head to look at the moon.

She heard the boy talk after he finished sewing his wound, putting a band-aid on top. “So… how much did you see, Delilah?” He asked, in a casual tone. His eyes couldn’t stop looking at her, even if all you could see was her back. He guessed that it was the blood almost immediately since he caught her expression at the sight of his wound.

“How did you know my name?” Delilah asked, keeping her eyes away from his, and his nasty wound. She was even more scared, she asked herself if the boy could read minds too.

“The lady.” The boy answers. “She called you that, or was that a nickname?” He asked, leaving a scoff after he let out the last word. Delilah felt a bit offended and embarrassed, she forgot that the lady back at the doughnut shop called her name.

“No, and plus… I didn’t see anything.” She felt her gut go weird as she lied. She saw everything, she was still getting flashbacks from what happened.

He teleports beside her, grabbing her arm. “Do not play with me.”

“I’m not!” She shouts.

“Who do you work for?” He asked, tightening his grip which made Delilah wince. He felt himself soften it as soon as he heard it. He kept his eyes locked to hers.

“...the library?” She answers, unsure of what the question was for. She felt curious, wondering if the boy thought she was a spy of some sort. It was indeed true, Delilah works at the library as the bookkeeper.

The boy stops for a second, stunned. “What?” He asked. “You're not here on a mission?”

“No? What mission?” Delilah was also confused. She shakes it off and sighs before asking. “And excuse me for my mouth, this is with all my leftover respect… But where the fuck even am I?" She shouts, wanting to leave already but the boy brushes it off as he grabs a good polo from the closet. He wears it then adds the vest on top.

“You’re in the Umbrella Academy building.” He whispers as he tucks in his polo, grabbing his blazer from the bed. He then fixed his hair after wearing the blazer by brushing it with his hands.

Delilah, who was staring at him, snapped back to reality after watching him dress. “The what?” She asked but jumped as they both heard a loud voice coming from downstairs.

“FIVE?” A man’s voice came shouting out. “FIVE!” He repeats it as he gets closer.

“Five what? Is that like a countdown or something?” I ask the boy who sighed, clearly annoyed by the noise the man was making.

"Five!" A man looking like he's on edge, with a huge possibility of being high, peeked through the boy’s door, "Oh hello! Who is this?" He looked at the boy, who was laying on the bed. Delilah didn’t know what to do but waved a bit to the strange, but friendly man. "Oh my~ Am I interrupting something?" He winked at Delilah and gave her a giant cheeky smile, she turned red as she realized that the man was thinking of something sexual.

"What?" Her eyes widened and started backing away from the boy. "No no no, I don't even know him?" She pointed at him, panicking. Deep down, Delilah was thinking about jumping down and attempting to run to the police to report all the things she witnessed.

"She saw me kill." The boy murmured, covering his eyes with his hand as he sighed.

"YOU KILLED THEM?" She shouted at him as she slapped his not wounded arm, making him look at me and flicked his hand away as he just rolled his eyes in response.

"Oh…” He said, with a gloomy tone. “Well in that case. Hello miss, I'm Klaus, his brother!" The man said, smiling brightly immediately after like he didn't just hear what the two had said. "And I’m sure he hasn't introduced himself yet.” He walks over to the boy. “This little cutie pie is our brother, Five." He smirks as he raises his eyebrows at Delilah, who was confused.

"What?" She asked, not following.

"Her name is Delilah." The boy, Five, blurts out. He obviously didn’t like Klaus’ presence.

"OH, Delilah! Come, come." He grabs Delilah’s hand, dragging her out the room and down the stairs, leaving Delilah a choice. She decided to wander her eyes around the academy, it looked like a school of some sort of fantasy book about a mix of superheroes and wizards. Klaus took her to a big living room, A bar at the end, a fireplace that wasn’t lit with an animal’s head hung up on the wall above it. She was mesmerized, forgetting everything and was completely hooked to the place.

Klaus made her sit down by pulling both her shoulders down to the couch. "So, your boyfriend-"

"I prefer kidnapper." She corrects him, but before she could complain about it, a girl enters the room, appearing out of nowhere.

She was tall, her hair curly, styled beautifully. "Who's this? " The woman asked, but all Delilah could think about is that the woman looked familiar... like a star, singer maybe? She wasn't sure, it was on the tip of her tongue.

"Allison! Hi! This is Five's... Well, I have no idea, I saw them in his room making flirty cute eyes." He winks at Delilah, then looks at the woman after, Allison, as he makes wavy gestures with both his hands.

"What flirty eyes??" Delilah looked up at him, he then replied with a shrug. Delilah was left confused and not knowing what was happening around her made her lose her patience.

Delilah finally stands up. “Okay hold on, what is happening here?" She asks as they get caught off guard by the loudness of her panicking voice. "I- I just saw a 16 year old boy who can weirdly teleport anywhere killing a dozen men at a doughnut shop, dragging me here to somewhere I don't even know! And you people not answering any of my questions is really pissing me off!" She bursts out, leaving the two stunned. The room went quiet for a minute and Delilah felt immediate regret in her.

She tried to calm her nerves down but jumped as soon as she heard a voice behind her. She turned around and saw a huge figure that looked like a muscular man. “Five killed someone?” He asked. Delilah didn’t realize until now that she was hiding behind Klaus, but didn’t want to push him away since she was very much terrified of the big man in front of her.

“Oh dearest Deli, this is our dear brother. Number One, Luther. He’s all buff, right?” Klaus smiled, nudging her arm while Delilah was a scare away from wetting her pants.

Allison placed her hand gently on Delilah’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” She asked, you could feel the softness of her voice. This made Delilah warm up to her, she felt herself go near her. She trusted Allison more than anyone in the room.

“Yes, I think I’m fine, I’m sorry. This is just too much for me to process all at once.” She apologizes. Allison just pats her in the head and gives her a small smile, making Delilah comfortable with her.

Five spoke, and all heads turned. “She’s not gonna help us save the world, she’s gonna get in our way. So can you guys just- get rid of her?” He stated and this left Delilah offended but also curious about them saving the world.

“Excuse me?” She asked, feeling insulted by the boy.

“You heard me.” Five bites back.

"Does she have to? She’s pretty." Another girl pops up from another room, her hair tied up in a low ponytail and a scarf on her neck. She was about as tall as Five, maybe a bit shorter. Delilah was now wondering how many people are still gonna pop out of nowhere.

"I'm guessing she's another sister." She points as the woman, staying in a close distance with Allison since she was the only one she trusted. Klaus nodded as an answer. “How many more are there?” I ask.

"Seven." Luther answers.

"Well, six.." Allison corrects Luther, you can see everyone’s heart sank as it escapes Allison’s mouth. Delilah was confused but refused to ask why, she figured that one left or something worse.

"But there's only five of you here—"

She was interrupted by a knife flying from the other end of the room. The knife flew past her cheek, leaving a clean cut. "Fuck!" She shouts in pain as her wound throbs and, just when the pain was at its worst, it dissipated, like fog off some terrible lake. Five quickly teleported to her, grabbing a familiar handkerchief from his blazer, it was Delilah’s.

Delilah felt Five’s eyes locked on her as he stopped the bleeding with the handkerchief, she wanted to look to see if she was correct but couldn’t get herself to raise her head.

"What the fuck, Diego?" Klaus exclaimed. Delilah looked at the man walking towards them, it was a man wearing some kind of black jumpsuit, knives around his torso and thigh. Looking like a ninja with his worn out superhero jumpsuit.

"Oh my god, Diego. What the fuck is seriously wrong with you?" Allison grabs the knife from his hand, throwing it on the couch behind her.

"Who the fuck is this? We don’t need another kid in here, we already have Five to babysit." He rolled his eyes as he looked at Delilah. It looked like she wasn’t making many friends. Diego removes his gloves, not caring about her on the ground with blood on her hand.

Delilah was about to talk back but Five held her hand, she swore that she saw worry in his eyes as she looks at him. He made Delilah hold the handkerchief, then teleported to Diego, whispering something none of us can hear, then stood up straight.

"Also, Last time I checked I was 19 years older than all of you. " He glared at Diego, you could see that he wanted to harm the man in front of him but chose to control himself.

"... I'm 18." Delilah mutters as she stands up.

"Yeah, right." Diego scoffs as he grabs the knife from the couch behind and starts walking away, clearly annoyed by Delilah’s presence. Delilah removed the handkerchief from her cheek and felt it with her hand, feeling disgusted immediately.

"Is she going to stay now?" Klaus smiled, and Delilah felt excitement inside. She wondered to herself why she was so excited to stay at the Academy, she decided to ignore the feeling.

"For now. She can stay in my room." Five declared, his posture straight and not making eye contact with any of us. He turned around to leave and Delilah felt something inside her flutter, she just shrugged it off and figured that she was hungry.

"Yay!" Klaus jumped excitedly while the others started leaving. Allison made me sit down, comforting me and helping me clean it.

"I just have a phone call to make, sit tight." She smiled at her and Delilah felt at ease, nodding. Allison left the room, Klaus noticed and sat in front of her, couldn’t keep himself calm.

"I know where you can get something you can change into, it's in Allison's wardrobe. Wanna see?" He giggles, as she lets out a soft laugh. She then realized that Klaus was harmless after all and felt comfortable around him instantly.

"Maybe a band-aid first?" She smiled, pointing out the fresh wound on her cheek that still had red stains from the blood.

"Oh right, right. Come, follow me." He said as he grabbed my hand as he helped me up the stairs, it felt more like dragging but Delilah didn’t mind at all. She felt like there was no getting out of here any time soon.

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